Why anxiety is making childhood innocence a mere thing of the past
Adult society is marginalizing an ever-growing number of adolescents, say child psychiatrists. In just one of the psychological counseling centers of the Children’s Psychiatric Hospital of Attica, 5,000 children were examined last year alone, most often for difficulties at school. The most common diagnosis was anxiety disorder. The director of the Fourth Section of the hospital and president of the Greek society for children’s and adolescents’ mental health, Alexandra Roussou, regards these numbers as the tip of the iceberg. For children to be brought to specialists requires at least a rudimentary family organization. Family crises, the huge increase in divorce, urban alienation, and impersonal role models are all causes. Hours spent at cramming schools mean that children have little if any free time, nor is there the essential space for play and recreation. Children come into contact with drugs at a tender age and there has been an increase in organized violence against other children. «Such incidents have been met with even in primary school, while gangs of youths attack those their own age, or unwary members of the public,» says Roussou. And on television, children watch glamour shows which depict a society that teaches the younger generations to be ruthless in the pursuit of their own interests.
